Welcome to summer!
The summer solstice at 10:57 a.m. marked the start of astronomical summer, and Wednesday is the longest daylight of the year, with someplace like Boston enjoying 15 hours, 17 minutes and 4 seconds of daylight.
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Today is also the nicest of the bunch this week as New England finds a breather between Canadian disturbances, and still sits north of the big, stalled storm system over the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. Little by little, that storm has been nudging northward and the storm-steering jet stream winds aloft continue to favor a northward drift, so New England will end up dealing with some of that storm late this week into the weekend.
For now, pockets of early clouds have mixed with sunshine and temperatures depend on proximity to the coast, as has been the case all week – a light onshore wind keeps temperatures in the 60s at the seashore versus 70s inland, but the light wind speed also means great conditions on the water for boaters – just a one to two foot sea with an early afternoon high tide.
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Regardless of where in New England you are, keep in mind the summer solstice also means the strongest sun angle of the year, so sunburns are easy to come by in the weeks either side of today.
It’s worth noting while Wednesday brings the longest daylight of the year, sunsets will actually continue getting later through the end of the month…it’s just that sunrises are getting later at a faster rate, so we start shaving off seconds of daylight each day.
Showers nudging northward through the Mid-Atlantic will arrive to the South Coast of New England Thursday midday to afternoon, while clouds increase for the remainder of Southern New England with showers spreading through Connecticut during the afternoon and closing in on the Massachusetts Turnpike by evening, while Northern New England enjoys a dry and fairly bright day.
Friday delivers lots of clouds and scattered showers for most of New England as humidity spreads across the region on a southerly wind. As the amount of warmth and moisture in the atmosphere increases, thunder is possible by Friday evening but the greater chance of thunderstorms comes over the weekend.
With the slow-moving storm drifting into Upstate New York and Pennsylvania, New England will find a combination of atmospheric energy and cool air aloft, warmth and humidity near the ground and some limited sunshine between building clouds each day, all contributing to numerous developing showers, downpours and thunderstorms that are expected to reach peak coverage and intensity during the afternoon to early evening.
Given the amount of energy available for thunderstorm growth, a few of the storms that develop will hold the potential for enough localized rainfall for isolated flash flooding or localized bursts of damaging wind and hail that may cause isolated damage. As a result, those with outdoor plans are encouraged to plan earlier in the day, if possible, and be sure to have a plan to duck inside a building or car if storms move in.
Summer Solstice
One sure sign summer has arrived is the air: While the days will be unsettled, temperatures will still rise to either side of 80 degrees owing to the breaks of sun and warm, humid air that moves in.
It looks like the unsettled pattern will continue deep into next week, as new atmospheric energy at the jet stream level continues to drop into the Northeast, elevating the risk of particularly afternoon to evening showers each day in our exclusive First Alert 10-day forecast.
